Seventeen Mag Opens Retail Store, Nightclub

Eager to tap into the interests of its 2.35-million-strong subscriber base and expand its platform, Seventeen magazine is getting into the bricks-and-mortar business with the debut of two new venues in Los Angeles—a retail boutique and an under-21 nightclub.

“We want to speak to teens in every point of their lives,” said Seventeen publisher Linda Platzner. This year, the magazine’s parent company, Primedia Inc., purchased Emap USA, adding Teen magazine and Teenmag.com to its holdings, which include Tiger Beat, Teen Beat and Gurl.com.

The magazine chose the high-profile location of Hollywood & Highland—the $615 million shopping and entertainment center that opened Nov. 9—for the introduction of its new concepts.

Kicking off in Southern California was the obvious business decision, according to Platzner.

“L.A. has a great fashion sense and the West Coast has another great vibe and individuality that adds to the atmosphere,” she said. “We saw [Hollywood & Highland] and we knew it was it.”

Platzner said the company partnered with club impresario Steve Foster, providing him with the exclusive license for the Seventeen store and One Seven nightclub. Known for his entertainment venues, including one at Universal CityWalk, Foster says he wanted to leverage the Seventeen brand and create a place for teenagers to wear their fashions.

“By taking the brand, we’ve created a three-dimensional platform” that includes the store, the club and the prospect of e-commerce on the magazine’s Web site in the next six months, Foster said. “We will be able to engineer lots of cross-promotional opportunities between the channels, from free tickets to gifts with clothing purchases.”

At the Seventeen boutique, which opened Nov. 8, the clothing is more Fred Segal than Wet Seal. Grouped in categories, the clothes range from denim to dressy to exclusive pieces, including Jonny Rock shirts fashioned out of original concert tees.Inside the 1,500-square-foot store, designed with blonde hardwood floors and mirrored displays, denim takes center stage with a console full of different brands from $46 Mavi jeans to $120 Seven flares. Tulula sweaters, Sky skirts, Hippie’s drawstring pants and Anna Gabellia’s imported leather short blazer with topstitching are among the key looks of the store. While shopping, customers can possibly see their club antics from the evening before highlighted on the plasma screen wall.

“The store will constantly evolve and we will receive new shipments every week to update the looks,” said Michelle Hansel, merchandiser for the store and former Friends owner and Rampage vice president.

Hansel said possible future additions to the store include cosmetics and young men’s clothing. Other ideas may come from a dozen teen advisors who will be selected in the next few months for input on trends and new concepts, she added.

Catering to the 15- to 20-year-old set, One Seven, the adjacent 9,500-square-foot club, will veer toward the upscale with hardwood floors, cherrywood columns and fixtures, sofas, wall drapes and Chinese lanterns. Lasers, three video screens and two projection spheres will add to the entertainment. Patrons can buy blended juice drinks, Red Bull beverages and flavored waters from the backlit steel-and-glass bar.

Admission will cost $20 for Friday and Saturday dance nights, either hosted by deejays or bands. The club already has managed to lure top draws Jewel, Mandy Moore, Shane West and Usher for pre–opening night festivities on Nov. 30. Foster hopes to build the week’s lineup with fashion and trunk shows, makeover sessions and sewing and makeup classes.

Foster said the total project cost $2.25 million to build. He’s projecting sales of $1.5 million for the store, and $2 million to $4 million for the club, depending on how frequently he utilizes the venue during the week.

Other locations are on the horizon, according to Foster.

“We think California could use more locations—like San Francisco, San Diego and Orange County,” he said. “We’d like to see places in Chicago, Orlando [Fla.], Dallas, New York City and Miami as well.”

Moving Beyond Media

Once the fountain of profits, the Gen Y emergence led to the outgrowth of Web sites, magazines and promotions in the past few years. That mania has ebbed recently, but analysts say the fickle teen market still has plenty of discretionary income and is always on the lookout for new thrills.

“They still have strong spending power, but that’s subsiding a little since it came from their parents, whose funds are declining,” said Jackie Fernandez, a partner in the consumer businesses practice at Deloitte & Touche LLP. “If you were to pick the time to open, now’s not the best time, but it’s not the worst.”

The crossover of media into business partnerships is a growing phenomenon, say media experts, citing the classic example of the 1995 merger between Disney and ABC.

“It demonstrates a real economic worry in the magazine business,” said Bryce Nelson, professor of journalism at the University of Southern California. “We saw the end of Mademoiselle this year, so the thinking is to find any way to broaden one’s reach and become more profitable.”

Still, Seventeen’s venture also raises an eyebrow, said Nelson, who questions an alliance of a magazine and potential advertisers.

“They will be promoting things in their editorial space from their store that they normally wouldn’t,” said Nelson, adding that the alliance could be worse. “If Seventeen were the New York Times, people would have a lot of problems with it. It won’t be taken as seriously because of the nature of the magazine.”

Platzner said Seventeen’s new editor-in-chief, Annemarie Iverson, will maintain journalistic boundaries.

“We’re not asking editors to make a choice based on the store’s items,” Platzner said. “We have a great variety of advertisers to begin with. They’re covered editorially because they’re appropriate for the marketplace, not because they’re good advertisers. There won’t be anything inappropriate.”